Here's where I'll be documenting my newly acquired 2009 CVPI. I've never owned one before, the closest thing to this car that I've owned was an '89 Caprice.

That being said, I'm not too familiar with these cars specifically, but somewhat familiar with cars in general (read: I'm a gearhead). I've wanted one of these for years and years and years...I blame watching the Beastie Boys "Sabotage" music video on MTV as a kid every time it came on...so I'm very excited to finally have my own!

The car came from a retired police chief who buys and flips the cars as a hobby. It came up for sale on the local Craigslist so I recruited a buddy of mine (who has a friend who does the same thing) and we went and checked it out. It wasn't quite as perfect as the photos made it look, but it drove great and was still very clean and straight. I picked it up a few days later. I can deal with the slight cosmetic imperfections, what matters is how mechanically sound the car seems to be.

There's a big booger on the roof from the light bar, I'd like to clean this up a bit and find a cleaner way to plug the hole.

The header panel has this weird imperfection, I'm not too concerned about it.

The front bumper cover has a crack and dent low down on the passenger side, somewhere down the road I'd like to replace it, but it'll do as-is for now.

The first thing I did when I got it home was to pull the laptop mount/desk unit. I think I'll be keeping the center console, but I'd like to install or build a covered storage compartment for it. I mounted my Maglite and cell phone cradle on the transmission tunnel where the laptop mount was.

Next I got to work on pulling some of the electronics from the trunk...laptop power inverter, strobe light power/control unit, various other electro doodads I have no need for or interest in. I grabbed my voltmeter and found that many of the wires were hot. Ideally, I'd like to trace them all back to the start and remove them, but that's not quite an option right now.

This is my DD, and as a husband, homeowner, full-time third shift employee, father of a young son...you get the picture. "Unnecessary" projects like removing all accessory wiring will have to wait.

What I DID have time for, however, was utilizing that great sliding tray in the trunk that all of the electronics were mounted to. I used to carry a ton of gear in the back of my Xterra. 3 ammo tins (2 of them big mortar boxes), a tool box, small tool kit, other odds and ends. A lot of that gear was for off-road wheeling adventures, and therefore wouldn't be needed in the Vic. I knew I wanted to carry my air compressor and tire repair kit, small tool kit, first aid, roadside worklight and roadside safety kit, jumper cables, and electrical repair kit; so I mounted them to the sliding drawer. Now they're out of the way when I might need to use the rest of the trunk space, but easily accessible if/when I do need them.

Overall the car is pretty clean, very solid and straight, and has been a blast to drive so far...talk about street presence!

A little dirty, but not too bad really. Newer intake manifold and new alternator, too.

After taking that engine pic, I discovered my next order of business. Time for a serpentine belt. Yikes!

(Yes, that's a hole.)

So that's it for now. Thanks for looking and please, feel free to offer any suggestions or insight on anything you see here - like I said, I'm new to these cars and eager to learn all that I can about them.

(02-28-2017 08:35 PM)tobiasg1995 Wrote: I like the slide rack. When you change the belt, change the tensioner and idler also.

There is no off position on my genius switch.

Thanks for the advice! Off to RockAuto I go...

(02-28-2017 11:08 PM)msena Wrote: Looks like you are off to a fast start. That skidding equipment shelf looks like it can be a great asset, have you had any issues with the objects staying put or are they pretty secure on there?

Yeah, I didn't want to waste any time making it mine, haha.

So far everything has stayed put just fine, even with some "spirited driving" since the install. The ammo box rests inside of a bracket that was already installed on the rack, it originally held down one of the electronic components. I added two small pieces of aluminum angle to the other 2 edges.

The other things on the shelf are held in place with Rip-Tie velcro straps I picked up from McMaster Carr, they've got a grometed hole in them so they can be bolted down. The tray had a couple holes and slots cut into it so it was a pretty quick process.

Next order of business, other than the belt, is figuring out why the horn doesn't work.

Got home from work this morning and started messing around with the horn, didn't dig too deep into it but did at least verify that the horns DO work. The connector wasn't plugged into the horns, so it seems like the factory horns were disabled somehow. Then I removed the Dynamax ms100 siren speaker...considered touching it off to the battery real quick but decided against it. I've got some reading to do on how to test the relay, etc. for the horn.

I discovered why my airbag light has been on and fixed that, the sensors up front behind the grille had been unplugged.

Ordered a new belt, tensioner, idler, Haynes manual, and some orange 194 bulbs. Last night I discovered that the front right corner marker is orange, but the front left is white...I can't have that, haha.

(02-28-2017 08:35 PM)tobiasg1995 Wrote: I like the slide rack. When you change the belt, change the tensioner and idler also.

There is no off position on my genius switch.

Big thank you for mentioning the idler pulley and tensioner. The idler seemed ok, but the tensioner was totally frozen. When I released the tension on it and pulled the old belt out, the tensioner didn't move back into the taught position at all - yikes!

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